Life preserver



April 21, 1925. 1,534,552

' H. C. TYNER LIFE PRESERVER Filed April 1, 1924 INVENTOR,

Harold az'yner ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 21, 1925 UNITED STATES HAROLD o. TYNER, or CULVEB CITY, cAnrroniviA.

' LIFE PRESERVEIR.

Application filed April 1, 1924. Serial No. 703,367.

To'all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HAROLD C. TYNER, a citizen of the United. States, residing at Culver City, in the county of Los Angeles and State of Galifornia, have'invented new and useful Improvements in Life Preservers, of which the following is a specification.

life "preservers and more particularly to bathing suits and other garments equipped with a pneumatic collar which may be inflated or deflated at the will of the wearer, and the buoyancy of which, when it is inflated, operates to maintain the body of the wearer in an upright position in the water.

One object of my invention is to provide a bathing suit which will be especially adapted for the use of persons who are learning to swim, but which may be worn by bathers generally and, in an emergency, may be utilized to save the life of bathers.

Another object is to provide a garment which may be worn by persons traveling on board of boats and ships and, in an emergency, may be employed as a life preserver.

Other objects and advantages will appear hereinafter and while I show herewith and will describe a preferred form of construction, I desire to be understood that I do not limit my invention to such preferred form but that various changes and adaptations may be made therein without departing from the spirit of my invention as hereinafter claimed. 1

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification. Referring to them:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a garment having its neck opening equipped with my pneumatic collar. the collar being shown in a partially deflated condition.

Fig. 2 is a front view of the garment shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a front View of a one-piece bathing suit, the neck opening of which is equipped with my pneumatic collar, said collar being shown in its inflated condition. Fig. 4-. is a sectional view of my pneumatic collar taken on line le-40f Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional View taken on line 55 of Fig. 3, showing my pneumatic collar in its inflated condition.

Fig. 6 is a plan view, corresponding to Fig. 1, of a modified form of my pneumatic collar.

Fig. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of a valve stem and valve of the type used with my pneumatic collar. I

Fig. 2 shows a blouse shaped garment of the form used as part of a two-piece bathing suit. A s'milar garment may be worn,

The pneumatic collar. 10 is made of any flexible water-tight material, such as rubbcr, oil-treated cloth, rubber-treated cloth and the like. It, is made in the form of a tube of varying diameter, having a relatively large diameter at the front 11 and back 12 and tapering to a relatively small diameter at the shoulders 13. It is fastened to the garment by two seams 14 and 15, one of which runs close around the neck-opening of the garment, while the other is spaced therefrom at a distance varying with the diameter of the tube, the object of such spacing being to hold the collar down on the garment and away from the head of the wearer, when it is in its inflated condition as illustrated in Fig. 5.

A valve stem 16 with its outer end 17 made in the form of a mouth-piece is fixed in the front lobe 11 of the pneumatic collar, said valve stem having its inner end 18, internally threaded to. receive an internal clamping nut 19, which nut has a central bore 20 for the admission of ar. The valve stem also has its inner end 18 externally threaded to receive an external clamping nut 21, which engagesa washer 22 between which and the internal clamping nut 19, the fabric of the pneumatic collar is clamped. A valve 23 with an externally projecting shank 24:, is held in engagement with its seat 25 in the valve-stem by a hel cal spring 26, one end of which presses against valve 23 while its other end rests a ainst the outer end of clamping nut 19. Ihe tension of spring 26 is such as to allow valve 23 to yield when the pressure of the breath comes against it, allowing air to enter the pneua matic collar.

When it is desired to deflate the collar a finger is pressed aga nst theend of valve shank 24 and the valve 23 unseated, thus allowing the air to escape.

i as an over-garment when traveling by water. My invention relates to improvements 1n As shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 1, when the pneumatic collar is deflated it collapses and the valve stem hangs down in front of the garment within easy reach of the wearer. When, in case of an emergency, or at any other time, it 1s desired to inflate the collar,

the valve stem is; turned upward by one hand, and inserted into the mouth of the wearer, so as to be held by the teeth wh le air is forced into the-cellar by forcibly exhaling the breath.

As shown in Figs. 3 and 5, when the pneumatic collar is inflated anddistended it has a relatively larger volume, in consequenceof which it has. a buoyancy sufiicient to keep the wearers head upright and above the Water.

The modified form shown in Fig. 6 is adapted for garments which are open at one shoulder, having a shoulder strap equipped With fastening means as buttons 27 and button holes 28. The pneumatic collar, in; this case, is made with closed ends 29, leaving sufficient space between them to allow for such fastening means.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

In a bathing suit, ashoulder split from the neck opening to the adjacent arm hole, fasteners for detachably holding the split edges of the shoulder together, and a split ring pneumatic tube extending from the front of said split shoulder around the neck opening of the suit to the rear of said split shoulder.

2. In a bathing suit a shoulder split from the neck opening to the adjacent armhole, fasteners for detachably holding the split edges of the shoulder together, and asplit ring pneumatic tube extending from the front of said split shoulder around the neck opening of the suit to the rear of said split shoulder, said tube being of relatively large diameter at the front and back and tapering to relatively small diameter at the shoul ders of the suit.

HAROLD 6. TYNER 

